Dwarven Legacy
by Digi-Dolphin
Summary: seq. Destiny Revealed. A trip to Sybak to archive knowledge leads to a reunion with the Wonder Chef and a quest to find the Treasure of Moria, the ancient Moria Gallery!
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Okay, this storyline continues from Destiny Revealed and actually reveals some spoilers from Heart of a Child that haven't been put up for reading yet. So, if you don't want to find out ahead of time what happens there, you might want to stop reading Caleb's series until after HoC is done.

* * *

Ch 1

On its own, as it was, Sybak was overwhelming at first to anyone who went there for educational advancement. Then the students would get into the libraries, the museums, the many small archives that would specialize in this and that, and minds would be made or broken with the abundance of information. For many who strove to become scholars, this was the place to be to learn and gain greater understanding of the world. For those looking to make a quick coin servicing students by offering hot cooked meals, school supplies, and room and board for visiting family and friends, it was a gald mine of opportunity. And for Caleb, the automatic doll with a soul, and Peppermint FireBlossom, a recently freed mana beast devoted to protecting and energizing her rescuer, it was the first step in a journey to archive the world. As previously promised by the doll, Pepper visited Genis and Jase just outside the city. After a discussion about the problem of keeping her busy while Caleb absorbed everything Sybak held in written form, Genis offered to invite her to the academy.

The months that passed seemed almost endless. Pepper became the beloved school mascot once the staff and students got over their fear and shock at a mana beast dropping in to chew on the leaves from the trees growing in their yard, often becoming a point of lecture in the part-time orations Genis would sometimes be requested to do by the dean of the academy. Genis found it gratifying to have something other than the World Reunification journey to talk about, as some parts of the quest were points of painful experiences for him. Art classes loved having Pepper as a model for paintings, sculptures, and other media. Pepper loved the attention, lapped it up and grew fat and lazy off of the apples and fruits the students brought to her. She worked it off quickly each time Caleb noticed her lounging for too long, knowing he could pester her endlessly about it.

Caleb himself spent many hours in the libraries and museums, reading every book stored in the buildings at speeds that shocked the other students, and studying the artifacts and relics until every detail was preserved in his memory. Hair tied up in a tight bun and hidden under a new beret, a pair of tinted glasses to mask his eyes from view, the doll could walk among the people of Sybak without fear of being mistaken for the former Chosen of Tethe'alla, Zelos Wilder, who remained confined to Iselia with his adopted family for reasons not yet disclosed by Origin. Normally, Caleb would be at home with the dwarf Altessa, cooking, cleaning, and doing the duties his older sister, Tabatha, once did. After a trip to find out Pepper's roots and save the other mana beasts, Caleb returned home only to discover that Altessa had planned to free him of his duties for a long while. Now equipped with the latest energy system the dwarf had to offer and a Sorcerer's Ring and modified Elemental Cargo of his own, Caleb was free to do as he pleased with his life. He chose to archive the world for the future.

Being an automatic doll, Caleb had no need to sleep or eat, but on occasion he drank a glass of water to ensure a particularly new system in his body stayed functional. As a parting gift that Altessa never told him about he was equipped to have the ability to cry true tears. Caleb wasn't sure how it worked, but in times when he felt sad or extremely happy about things, the system kicked in and tears would stream down his face as real as any living being's own. The most he learned about the system was that for it to work consistently, Caleb needed to drink a glass of water at least once every few weeks, more if he had overdone the waterworks due to some event or another that generally made him cry more than he usually did.

Even with that, he still needed to blend in with the rest of the people. So Caleb used a portion of his saved allowance to rent a room at a local hotel and quickly got a job at a nearby restaurant cooking lunches and dinners for students. He had to talk fast to keep his hat and sunglasses on for the whole time, but after a small sampling of his cooking, further improved thanks to his friendship with the Wonder Chef himself, the manager let him do as he pleased. With a place to go to recharge and review what he learned, and Pepper set up in a nearby stall with the promise not to spook the horses any more than they already were, they were set to stay in Sybak as long as necessary to absorb the collected information there.

Time passed and as spring began to creep back into the land, Caleb closed the last book in the last library and sat back with a contented sigh. The librarians looked at the walls of books that surrounded him and sighed as well, this would be another of those times where they would be up all night putting books away. Caleb got up and smiled at the staff as he left.

"That's everything Sybak has archived, down to the books and artifacts only the Chosen could access. Which he did, heh." the doll chuckled and waved up at the academy building, fairly sure Genis would see and send Pepper back along to him. Sure enough, the white and red mana beast came bounding out the yard and trotted up next to him, clacking cheerfully and smacking her lips. "You got treated to apples again?" Caleb asked with a wry smile, "Well, let me go talk to Genis for a bit, then we'll get ready to leave." Pepper nodded and sat put, white feather wings folded down and tail curled around her feet as Caleb strode into the school in search of the half-elf.

He explained to the staff and to Genis that his business in the city was done and he would be leaving that day, taking Pepper along with him, of course. The student body and staff wished them luck on their journey and cheered a good-bye to Pepper as the two of them went on their way.

"Come back and visit again!" Genis called out.

Checking out of the hotel was easy enough, but quitting his job was a touch more difficult. The manager pleaded for him to stay, even offering to raise his pay and place him in a higher position. Caleb declined and spotted a cook on the street walking by with an oversized spoon strapped to his back. He suggested that the manager talk to that cook and left, happy to know that he had helped the Wonder Organization just a bit.

"Now that our affairs are in order, why don't we go and visit Martel at the Yggdrasill Tree? If Orator is from before the Kharlan War ended, then maybe he knows a lot about the world before Mithos messed it up." Caleb remarked and smiled when Pepper clacked happily at the idea. "You just want to munch on more Mana Fruit, huh?" He paused near the library across the entrance to Sybak and looked around for a place to sit, "Let me check my pack and see if I already have one for you." He finally decided to sit on an oddly shaped bench that looked like some blind artist decided to carve a teddy bear out of a stone chair with a dull knife.

"_Gah!_" the bench grunted once he plopped down and Caleb jumped off in shock, "Watch what you're doing! Ow!" The doll spun around and watched as the bench erupted into smoke, revealing the blonde Wonder Chef kneeling over in roughly the same configuration as the bench. He was wincing, one arm pulling back to rub at his back. "Ow... I should have listened to Father about not using the bench guise near buildings..." The chef stood straight, gripping the fork in one hand as always, and stretched back to pop out a few kinks.

"Wren!" Caleb exclaimed joyfully once the shock wore off. The Wonder Chef blinked and looked at him in surprise. "I didn't know you were in Sybak! How long have you been here?!"

"About a month. Caleb? You're here too?" the Wonder Chef, known best to Caleb as Wren, yelped back and laughed, holding out his hands in friendly greeting, "It's been too long! I dropped by your house a little earlier in the winter, but no one was there. I thought you and Altessa were out on a shopping trip somewhere!" Pepper butted in and eyed the blonde, startling him. "Yah! What is that?!" Wren cried, leaping back and bumping into the library. He brought the Wonder Fork around defensively.

"Ah, sorry. This is Peppermint FireBlossom, Pepper for short. She's a mana beast and a sweet girl. Don't worry, she won't bite or anything." Caleb introduced his companion. Wren eyed the creature warily.

"Friendly, huh?" he questioned and flinched when Pepper took a sniff at him, "She's not sizing me up for a snack later, is she?"

"Nah, she eats mostly fruits, leaves, and small animals. She loves apples, though." Caleb assured him and stroked Pepper's snout. "Basically, she'll eat anything you put in front of her that smells of food. Hey, she likes trying out my recipes for me!"

"Oh, really? Well, then I guess we'll get along." Wren laughed nervously and reached out to stroke her as well. Pepper clacked, then nuzzled the chef. "She definitely is friendly. So, what are you doing in Sybak? Running more errands for Altessa?" he asked the doll. Caleb shook his head.

"Nope. Altessa left on a journey to educate dwarves around the world last fall. I'm on a journey of my own with Pepper." he told his old friend, "We're gathering and storing all the information and knowledge of the world to save for the future, in case another great disaster falls on Symphonia that forces it to lose its history again. Kinda like what Mithos did when he rewrote history for both Sylvarant and Tethe'alla."

"So you're on your own, huh?" Wren remarked and walked over to sit on a real bench, setting the fork down beside him. "I can see how that works out. With a mana beast providing you with endless mana, you're free to do whatever you want." He grinned up at Caleb. "Can I come along?" he asked.

"Aren't you here on Wonder Organization business?" Caleb asked in return, folding his arms over his chest and eyeing him sternly, "You have only been back on the job for a couple of seasons and you tried bailing the first season."

"Ugh, don't remind me." Wren sighed and slumped back against the bench, throwing his arms onto the back as he relaxed. "I had a mess of doctors and therapists on my case day and night. And on top of all that... well, never mind." he trailed off and sighed. "I was here to see if I could find any new recipes to take back to the Organization. It's embarrassing to say but we're just about out of new ideas for modifying normal recipes to be used by warriors and other Wonder Cooks in their battles."

"So if you found some totally new ways of cooking food..." the doll began.

"Then the Wonder Organization can begin experimenting with ways of enhancing and modifying them. That's what we did with the recipes I taught to Lloyd's group, Tabatha, and you." Wren finished with a nod. "I just finished searching this library, and I really don't want to have to go to the others, even though a lot of people are counting on me to find proof that... Well, I'm just sick of it."

"I can make it easier on you. There are no recipes here that you haven't already used." Caleb told him, "I finished reading everything here in Sybak."

"Oh? That's useful." Wren remarked and sat up, looking more glum than cheered by the fact, "Well, now I don't know what to do!"

"Come with me, then. I'm going to visit Martel and Orator at the Yggdrasill Tree. Maybe Orator knows of some ancient recipes that were lost during the Kharlan War." Caleb tried to cheer him up. Wren only sighed again.

"I doubt it. The Wonder Chef Family was founded long before the Kharlan War even came up, when magitechnology was still a new thing to be tested and experimented with. My family and our archives all survived the war and Mithos' purgings. So we've got information that was lost from the world." he muttered.

"Then I'll be attacking your archives after I talk with Orator. And cheer up already! We'll find something along the way!" Caleb told him firmly, "I've never seen you look more depressed than when you found out who you were after losing your memories!"

"And I probably would have been better off that way, too..."

"That's it!" Caleb griped and pulled Wren completely off the bench, ignoring his yells of surprise as he slung the blonde onto his shoulder, then spun around and began marching out of Sybak.

"Caleb! Put me _down_! What are you doing?! Hey! _Hey!_ You can't do this to me! I'm the_ Wonder Chef!_ _Caleb!_" Wren shrieked as Pepper fell in line behind him and amused herself by sticking her tongue out at the thrashing chef.


	2. Chapter 2

Ch 2

To keep Pepper from tiring herself out carrying two passengers, Caleb decided to try using the Elemental Cargo and sail to the Ozette Ruins from Sybak. Wren got over himself fairly quickly once he saw the kitchen that was built into the cargo hold area. Altessa had the foresight to remodel the interior of the barge to comfortably house the mana beast on seafaring trips as well as act as a temporary home for Caleb, even though the doll had no real need of such facilities.

"Our estimated time to arrival at Ozette Ruins is five hours, give or take a half hour for fueling." the redhead remarked and looked back at Wren. "Make yourself at home; you could probably use the rest. Where have you been staying that whole month?" He got no answer as the Wonder Chef had curled up on the bed, asleep. Pepper thought that was a pretty good idea, and decided she could use a nap as well.

The EC was smooth and quiet, and only needed one refuel, which Pepper easily did by pulling mana from the fading sunlight. As a mana beast with Ascension blood, she could easily use her power to draw mana from the light and redirect it to where it was needed. This was how mana beasts spread mana from the Yggdrasill Tree to the world, pulling it from the tree and then carrying it to where it would do the most good. Caleb sailed the ship onwards, checking back randomly to see how his friends were doing. Pepper was entertained with the Wonder Fork where it lay on the floor, pawing at it and rolling it back and forth between her paws. Wren shifted uneasily at random times, but stayed asleep the whole trip.

"He must really have been tired." Caleb murmured and looked back towards the land, "Well, I'll let him sleep and set up camp on the shore. Pepper could use the exercise." The ship pulled alongside the coastline and Caleb switched off the engine, then stood to open the rear cargo hatch. He began to climb out of the EC, but paused to check on his friend once more. Wren twitched once, but that was it. With a sigh, Caleb disembarked and walked through the surf onto the beach, then waited as Pepper trotted down the ramp that emerged from the underside of the rear of the EC.

"Ready to play Fetch, Pepper?" Caleb asked with a grin, holding up a bright red ball of heavy wood. The mana beast clacked and bounded to his side, ready for fun.

It was nearing moonrise when Wren finally stepped out of the EC, Wonder Fork in hand as he leaped down into the surf and waded towards Caleb. He paused on the beach and smiled as he watched the doll toss the ball towards the forest and let Pepper fly after it in retrieval. As she headed off for it, Wren made his way up to the automatic doll.

"Having fun?" he asked. Caleb turned his head with a smile.

"Sleep well?" the doll countered. The Wonder Chef looked down at his shoes for a moment, then returned the grin.

"Ah, yeah. Thanks." he answered and watched Pepper bound towards them with the ball in her mouth as Caleb called the EC into the Wing Pack, "So, are we heading for the tree now or in the morning?"

"I don't need rest, and Pepper had her sleep so she's good for a night of travel. The only one I'm worried about is you. Where have you been staying in Sybak that can konk you out for more than half a day?" Caleb questioned, a serious expression on his face. Wren just shrugged, pulling off his chef's hat with the insignia of the Wonder Chef Family and stuffing it into a pack he carried on him.

"Here and there. Anyplace with a roof over it." he replied in a nonchalant manner and slung the Wonder Fork onto his back. He began walking towards the forest, "C'mon! Let's go!" Caleb jogged to catch up and was joined by Pepper as the mana beast whistled her confusion at the sudden change from play to travel.

"Wait, what? You didn't even have a hotel room or something?" Caleb exclaimed in disbelief, "You're the Wonder Chef! You should be able to get a free place in any bed and breakfast!" Wren's jaw worked as he strode on, keeping his eyes on the path ahead. "I mean, come _on_! What's up with the Wonder Organization?! They should be _thankful_ that you're even still around! You almost got killed by the Dark Chef Alliance and this is the way they treat their leader...?!"

"Agh! I don't want to hear about the Wonder Organization!" Wren suddenly snapped, glaring at him as he came to a dead halt, hands tightened into fists. "I said I was sick of it! Just drop it and let's go!" Caleb blinked in shock and shook his head as Pepper reared back with a shrill screech, fur puffing and wings trembling.

"Whoa! Wren, what's wrong with you?" he murmured. Wren took a deep breath and stepped back.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to blow up on you. But I meant what I said there. I don't want to hear about the Wonder Organization." he told the doll, gazing down at the grassy path that would lead to the ruins of Ozette. "It's something I have to deal with as the Wonder Chef, but I can do that later. I'm not the Wonder Chef now, I'm Wren. You promised I would be Wren when I'm with you."

"All right. I'll keep my mouth shut for now. But after I talk to Orator you're spilling the beans on what's going on!" Caleb lectured and winced, "Great, now I'm the one with the bad puns."

"I'll think about it. So, who's Orator? You keep talking about him." Wren remarked as Caleb turned to calm Pepper down with coos and an apple. The doll nuzzled Pepper's snout and smiled at the chef.

"That's right. You weren't with us at the time. Orator is the mana beast companion to Martel. He's like the wise man to the other mana beast clans." he replied.

"Ah! You mean, there are _more_ of these things in the world?!" Wren exclaimed in shock.

"Yeah, and Orator's the only one who can talk human language."

"It _talks_, too?!"

"Wren, you're turning different colors. I think you'll do better riding on Pepper for the trip." Caleb pointed out with a slightly exasperated smile, arms folded up in a casual pose, "It won't do for me to introduce you to all my friends while you're fainted."

"I suppose you're right." Wren answered weakly and gingerly climbed onto Pepper's back.

* * *

Ozette Ruins brought back mixed memories and emotions as the three friends walked through the destroyed village. Caleb thought on how he met both Pepper and the Wonder Chef because of experiences near the ruins, Wren couldn't help but think of the hardships the Wonder Organization and his family went through because he dropped out of sight unwillingly, even as he tried not to think of his own current hardship. Pepper thought about fruit and dinner. She was the only one to vocalize her thoughts, startling Wren and bringing Caleb to a halt. 

"She's hungry." Caleb realized once the faint image of a pot and apples appeared in his mind. "Okay, we'll stop here and make a snack, Pepper. I'll make a meat stew." Wren slid off of Pepper's back and checked the supplies they had brought along from the EC.

"We don't have the meat for a meat stew. Just lots of fruits." the chef reported. Caleb looked distressed.

"No way! I brought the wrong pack! That's Pepper's treat bag!" he cried. Wren laughed and looked up at him.

"That's okay. I'm sure she won't mind if we use some of her treats to make fruit cocktail for all of us." he remarked and picked out several ripe fruits, "I'll need to borrow a knife and a cutting board for this." Caleb searched his own travel pack and pulled out the tools for him. "I'll get started on it right away."

"I'll go and see if I can get some meat from the wild animals around here." the doll added and turned to Pepper, "Pepper, be a good girl and stay here with Wren. Make sure the wild animals don't come here. Remember what your mother and father taught you about chasing away monsters." Pepper whistled sadly. "I know you want to come with me, but I want to try this on my own. It's the only way for me to see if I can do this." Caleb murmured and left the clearing as Wren set to chopping apples, humming to himself as he worked. Pepper watched Caleb leave with a sad expression, then watched Wren with interest. She toyed with her innate Ascension powers, clacking with pleasure as she snuck a piece of apple from the pile towards her when the chef wasn't paying attention.

Caleb didn't have to walk far into the forest before he came across one of the mana reactors that sat almost overgrown with flora. Sliding his hand into the light shining within the dome of the device, the doll watched the mana crystal change to fit the area. He brought it out and held his fist forward, smiling as a beam of light shone forth and lit up his path.

"Okay. So that works. Now to find a monster or two." he remarked brightly and continued on. The sounds of him walking on the fallen twigs and dead tree limbs attracted the local wildlife and Caleb soon found himself confronting a pair of wolves and a small flock of angry birds of prey. "That was fast." the doll commented with a smile and set his feet in a solid stance, one hand going over the area of his chest where his heart would be. His free hand stretched out towards the approaching animals, index finger pointing as if to accuse them of some evil deed.

"Let's see what I'm made of! Come on!" he exclaimed and the pack of animals took it as a challenge, racing towards him. Caleb quickly drew a focusing point into the air with his outstretched hand, a way of helping him concentrate on where the best place to unleash the spell would be. "Want a taste of me?!" he cried, a red mana circle spiraling out at his feet as another formed in front of his free hand, "_Fireball!_" The spheres of magically conjured flame slammed into the wolves, sending them howling with pain across the ground.

The birds swerved aside to avoid the attack and dived at Caleb. He rolled aside, flipping out of the way as agile as the man whose body served as the model for his own. Regaining balance easily, the doll spun and resumed the spell casting pose.

"I don't suppose you'll be trying that again?" he purred and smiled as the birds came at him again, "Okay! Here comes another!" He drew out the focus again and slammed his open palm forward once more, "_Wind Blade!_" The concentrated air tore into the flock before they could evade the blast, dropping several of them to the ground. What survived the attack flapped off in a hurry, screaming in fury. Caleb collected the fallen prey and cleaned them of feathers and grit.

"Meat stew's back on the menu!" he remarked cheerfully and went back to the campsite, confident that he had a handle on his new spell casting ability.

Caleb's triumphant return to camp was met with Pepper being chased around the clearing by Wren, who waved his fist into the air as he raced after the clacking mana beast.

"Get back here, Pepper! I'll teach you not to eat that fruit cocktail all by yourself!" the chef shouted, "What about the rest of us?! We have to eat, too!"

"You mean, _you_ need to eat." Caleb corrected loudly and held up his prizes, "Don't worry! I got some meat here for that stew." Wren stopped his chasing and huffed tiredly. "I'll cook it this time. Get some rest, you're not supposed to tire yourself out like that." the doll added and looked over at Pepper. "And you should know better than to swipe dinner before it's been made! Settle down and rest up some. We'll continue once Wren has had something to eat." The mana beast clacked and sat down, seeming to snicker at her own cleverness. She had her snack and got some playtime in, all at the same time.

* * *

Despite Caleb's thoughts on when they would leave, it became clear that the race and dinner made for a sleepy chef. The three of them didn't make it to the Yggdrasill Tree until mid-morning the next day. The clearing was fairly empty, save for the mana beast hatchlings playing near the base of the tree with their live-in baby-sitter and Orator, who sat calmly nearby, watching the group. 

"Hello! I'm here for a visit!" Caleb called out as he, Pepper, and Wren entered the clearing and walked up to Orator. The massive mana beast turned his attention to them and nodded his head in a sort of greeting. "Orator, I'd like you to meet my best friend, Wren!" he introduced as Wren stared up at the mana beast in shock, "Wren, this is Orator."

"He's bigger than I thought!" Wren exclaimed.

"I get that a lot." Orator told him and didn't move when the chef yelped and jumped back in surprise, "I get that, too. Pleased to meet you, Lord Wren." He cocked his head and gave him a steady look. "Hmm. I didn't think the Wonder Chefs would actually survive the Kharlan War, given their connections to those involved. You must be the newest Wonder Chef in the line." he added. Wren looked startled.

"How did you know I'm the Wonder Chef?!" he exclaimed in shock. Orator straightened and snorted a bit.

"You hold about you a very particular aura and scent that is unique to those of the Wonder Chef line. It is an ancient lineage as proud and vital to Symphonia's survival as the mana beast race and the protozoans." he declared in his rumbling voice, "And I can see your fork on your back." Wren turned bright red with embarrassment as Caleb and Pepper laughed at the mana beast's words.

"That's Orator for you. He's a wise guy as well as a wise one." the doll explained between his chuckling. Orator's mouth turned up in a smile.

"I like that description. I'll remember it from now on." the mana beast remarked and settled down comfortably, "So, are you here to visit Lady Martel, Friend Caleb?" The doll shook his head.

"Actually, this time I'm here to see you. I'm on a quest to save the knowledge of this world so it can be preserved in case another disaster befalls Symphonia." he began, "Since you are from the time before the Kharlan War, I thought you might be able to tell me about the histories of this world before Mithos destroyed them." Orator eyed him carefully.

"Your journey is a noble one and suits your abilities well. But, I don't think I can be of much help. The knowledge of the past that I hold is in the form of legends and stories that pertained to the mana beast race and the Spirit of Mana when the Kharlan Tree grew lush long ago. Such things are best left to those of us who lived the past, so that we may see in advance the signs of troubled times to come in the future." he told the doll, "If they were to be recorded, then history would be doomed to follow those previous mistakes and all that the Heroes of Union fought for would truly be the lost knowledge and wisdom of the world."

"Oh. So, you have nothing that can be shared with us?" Caleb pressed on, disheartened by his words, "Not even an ancient recipe or two for my friend, Wren?"

"I'm afraid not, Friend Caleb." Orator affirmed with a slow shake of his head. He gave Wren a confused look. "And why would the Wonder Chef have need of archaic recipes? Aren't the ones they have in possession now enough? Your family must also have an archive of the recipes before the Ancient Kharlan War, and you have the Ultimate Recipe, as I recall. What makes you search for recipes that your ancestor had no need to master?"

"My reasons for finding new recipes are many. All I can say for now, to both you and Caleb, is that the Wonder Organization is in need of new recipes to modify to continue protecting the world's food and well-being." Wren told the mana beast, "We were recently betrayed by a spy, who has taken many of our secrets and may use them to try to change how food is prepared for the people of Symphonia. Without a new menu of culinary counter-recipes, we could very well fall to the Dark Chef Alliance and Symphonia's quality of life will fail." Orator studied him intensely and the blonde looked away anxiously.

"You are troubled by something. There is a darker side to your search." the mana beast murmured and sat back up. "I won't pry into your affairs. The Wonder Chef Family's concerns remain their own. We mana beasts only supply what we can to them." Orator lifted a paw and tapped his lower lip. "I may not be able to give either of you what you seek, but I do know of a place that can." he finally remarked.

"_Really?!_" both Caleb and Wren exclaimed hopefully.

"In the past the Moria mine of today was the home to a vast brotherhood of dwarves who amassed their combined knowledge and wisdom in the Moria Gallery. It is a library of information that may have survived the creation of the two worlds." Orator told them, "The Moria Gallery contains dwarven knowledge and technology, and has been myth for much of the race in recent generations, at least as far as I've heard. It is no myth, and if the Moria Gallery survived, then you have a chance at its wealth of knowledge." He winked at Wren. "You might even find a few dwarven recipes, too."

"The technology and knowledge of the dwarves of the past." Caleb whispered with shining eyes, "Just think of what that could do to help Altessa and Dirk in their journey to educate the dwarven race!"

"The Dark Chefs won't know anything about dwarven recipes! We can use those to counter the human recipes they might have stolen from us!" Wren murmured and closed his eyes, "And I will have the proof I need..."

"Come on, Wren! Let's go to Moria!" Caleb exclaimed with renewed enthusiasm, "I bet we can find the Moria Gallery and learn all we need to from it!" He paused and thought hard. "Hmm. Moria mine is connected to the Toize Valley mines by a tunnel that was sealed by the Lezareno Company. That means we need to get special permission from them in order to access the mines and the tunnel that will take us to Moria."

"The Lezareno Company is in Altamira, right?" Wren pointed out and gave Caleb a stern look, folding his arms over his chest, "You're not gonna make me swim there, are you?" Caleb laughed sheepishly.

"No, no. I've got friends in the company. I'm sure we'll get the permission we'll need." he laughed embarrassedly. Orator cleared his throat for attention.

"I've noticed that Pepper has been wearing a bell for some time now. There may be a usefulness to it." he began, "For the time being, she has been able to draw mana for your benefit from the light and from fire and heat. Let me make the suggestion that you find certain gems to decorate that bell with. Do you know of the gems that are blessed by the Summon Spirits?"

"Yes, those are the Rings of Pact that each Summon Spirit gives to the pact-maker whose vow they uphold." Caleb returned, "Sheena of Mizuho is a summoner, and her rings were from the Summon Spirits of Sylvarant and Tethe'alla. She has given them out as gifts to her friends to keep them safe."

"Precisely. If you can find gems just like those, bring them by here. I'll request the clans of each corresponding gem to infuse it with their bloods." Orator told the doll, "That will help Pepper draw mana from other sources. Remember, Friend Caleb, that she is still a child though she has an adult body. Take care of her and continue to love and protect her as well as teach her what is just and fair. Her Ascension powers will grow and she will develop her other abilities in time."

"I'll remember that. Thank you, Orator." Caleb answered with a polite bow, "We'll be leaving for Altamira."

"I'll teleport ahead with the Wonder Fork and meet you there." Wren suggested, "Pepper can't carry both of us there." Caleb shook his head vehemently.

"No way! Not after the shape I found you in back in Sybak! We'll get there in the Elemental Cargo!" the doll declared, "It may take us a little longer than on Pepper or by teleportation, but it will sure as hell be a lot healthier for you! If the You-Know-Who won't cough up the gald to get you into a hotel, then I'm going to make sure you aren't left out in the cold!" Wren looked startled, then smiled tearfully at him.

"All right. You're a real friend, Caleb. I'm glad I met you so long ago." he murmured.

"Then it's settled. Good luck on your journey. May you both find what you seek." Orator told them and resumed his watchful gaze over the hatchlings as Caleb, Wren and Pepper left the clearing.


	3. Chapter 3

Ch 3

"I take it you're still not going to tell me what's up with you and this sudden need to get away from the Wonder Organization." Caleb remarked suddenly as the group of friends sailed from the shoreline towards Altamira. Wren sat in the co-captain's seat beside him, gazing dully out at the ocean through the clear glass windshield.

"No. Can we **please** just not talk about it until after I get my hands on those dwarven recipes?" the blonde sighed. Caleb shook his head in exasperation.

"Fine. But you'll tell me once we find the Moria Gallery, right? Promise?" the doll pressed.

"I will. Promise." Wren mumbled.

Traveling to Altamira took less time than Lloyd's ship could make the trip, as Caleb kept the ship powered and motored it through the nights and days it took to reach the island resort. Wren kept Pepper busy with games that challenged her mind, and fruit treats. Even though he was busy with keeping the EC on course for Altamira, Caleb could notice that his friend seemed far too preoccupied with some secret worry to keep him comfortable with the idea that whatever was going on was going to be easy to work out. He sighed quietly and looked up at the buildings and bright lights of Altamira's resort.

"We're here." Caleb announced unenthusiastically and docked at the pier. He climbed out of the EC and helped Wren off, then opened the rear hatch for Pepper before collapsing the vehicle into the Wing Pack. "Pepper, why don't you go and wait outside the city for us? I'll whistle for you when we're ready to go." the doll told the mana beast. Pepper pouted and tried to look extra-cute, pulling her ears down as she flopped onto her belly, her head on her paws and batting her eyes. Caleb smiled, unable to help himself. "I bet there are tons of trees outside. Maybe even an apple tree!" he bribed. Pepper seemed to think about it, then whistled as she stood back up, a picture of the EC leaving the island blooming into Caleb's mind. "I know. We'll be leaving right after we get that permission to enter the Toize Valley mines. We won't be gone for too long." he agreed, "In the meantime, practice your FireBlossom abilities. I bet you can really scare monsters if you can blow a big fireball at them!" The mana beast cheered at the idea and took off into the air, bell ringing brightly as she made her way to the little forest not far from the resort.

"So who are we visiting in Lezareno?" Wren asked as the two men made their way into Altamira and headed towards the Elemental Rail boarding station. Caleb grinned.

"Duke Regal Bryant and Ms. Presea Combatir. They're the ones in charge of the Lezareno Company." he answered. Wren stopped in shock. "Wren? Are you okay?"

"Regal? He's the one I called the God of the Kitchen." the young chef told him, "He has the greatest potential to be a Wonder Chef successor that I've ever seen! I told him so myself!" He ran his hand through his hair. "If anything ever happened to me that could keep the Wonder Chef Family from continuing, and my family couldn't find an alternative way of carrying on, then Regal would be the first person they'd contact to take over the Wonder Chef Family and the Wonder Organization."

"So why didn't anyone try that when you lost your memory last year?" Caleb asked as they resumed their walk. Wren sighed and shook his head.

"Because Regal had told them that he couldn't take on that kind of responsibility until after all efforts to find me had been truly exhausted. The time-table on my life was almost over when we sealed the Famine Lord in Flanoir." he replied, "If we had been just a few days too late, I would have lost my position as Wonder Chef, marked dead by the family." He looked away then, sighing almost regretfully. "I would have been free." he added as a whisper. Caleb looked at him strangely, but said nothing about it.

"Now boarding for the Lezareno Company! Last call!" the resort-wide sound system crackled to life with the announcement, "Please board the rail car for the Lezareno Company!" Caleb broke into a run with Wren dashing after him.

"Hurry! We have to catch that car or we'll have to wait until later tonight to talk to Regal and Presea!" the doll cried out. They raced past crowds of vacationing men and women, darted down the bridge to the elevator that dropped them off at the boarding station just as the gate began to close. Caleb sped towards it as Wren reached back for the Wonder Fork, whirling it around in front of him.

"Wait for us!" Caleb yelled as he slid under the gate and slammed into the rail car, surprising the occupants as well as the attendant, "Wren!"

"Let's go." the Wonder Chef murmured, holding the fork up and focusing on the rail car image in his mind. A blast of smoke later, he was standing by the redhead on the car, sliding the fork back into place. "Are you okay?" he asked with a chuckle. Caleb glared up at the blonde from his upside down position against the side wall of the car.

"Have I ever mentioned how many times I've wanted to steal your fork for myself?" he grumbled.

* * *

Regal and Presea were both surprised to see Caleb waiting for them in the lobby, but the duke was doubly shocked to see the blonde beside him. After introductions were made, an unnecessary gesture as they all knew each other one way or another, Regal calmly asked why the Wonder Chef was there, out of full uniform and undisguised in the open.

"For the same reason I'm here." Caleb answered, "I'm on a quest to gather and preserve the world's knowledge. Wren is searching for ancient dwarven recipes to help the fight against the Dark Chefs. We heard that both can be found in the Moria Gallery in the Moria mine. But, to get there, we need to enter the Toize Valley mines."

"And you need our permission to enter the mines and the secret tunnel entrance to Moria." Presea murmured, her body grown to suit a young lady but her hair still in pigtails.

"Wonder Chef, your name is Wren?" Regal asked in surprise.

"Not really. Wren is the name Caleb gave me and it's the name I feel comfortable with when I visit him." the blonde answered and gave the duke a wry grin that seemed both joking and sad, "The world isn't supposed to know I have any identity other than Wonder Chef, so my real name is very much unimportant to people."

"You have a real name? Why didn't you tell me? Wouldn't you rather go by that name than 'Wren'?" Caleb demanded. Wren shook his head in irritation.

"Does it matter? No one cares who I really am, so my name means nothing to the world. As long as I'm Wonder Chef, that is all the people want to see me as. The title is about as on par as 'Chosen'." he growled, "I'm not important enough as myself to keep my name in public, so the name isn't important either."

"It's important to me." Caleb grumbled and looked up at Regal, "Anyway, we're asking for the permission needed to enter the Toize Valley mines and the Moria Tunnel. May we have it?" Regal and Presea looked at each other in concern.

"You... haven't heard?" Regal questioned the doll. Caleb looked confused. "The first seven floors of Moria collapsed more than a year ago when a mechanical dragon escaped from underground and terrorized Symphonia. The dragon was destroyed by Kratos, but we haven't been able to fully excavate the mines to see the extent of the damage."

"I miss a lot of stuff when I lived with Altessa." Caleb sighed, "What in the world was Kratos doing near Moria to begin with?"

"Looking for something important, as far as we know." Presea told him, "You can enter Moria's mid-levels through Toize, but the tunnel has a special lock in place. Once you pass through the doorway, it will seal itself off and you won't be able to get back through there. You will have to find another way out of Moria on your own."

"This card key will open the gate to the tunnel and override the previous locks on it. That way, I won't have to physically be there for you to open the door. Since there's no one trying to get Exspheres again, it should be safe to release the seal this time." Regal added and pulled a hard plastic card from his pocket. He handed it to Caleb. "Also, during our initial forays into Moria after the collapse, we found it had become inhabited by monsters and wild beasts. For your safety, as well as the Wonder Chef's, we recommend you take a few of our security guards with you. They will defend you from most of the dangers in the mines."

"Thanks, but that won't be necessary." Caleb remarked, "Wren isn't as helpless as one would think, and I've got some surprises of my own for any monster that tries to tango with me." He winked, freed of his need for the hat and glasses when with the Heroes of Union. "We also have a special companion who can scare off most monsters before they even become a problem! We'll search Moria for the Moria Gallery and bring out as much as we can from it. I'm sure the world could benefit greatly from the data there, especially the dwarves."

"Well, as long as you know the dangers you'll be facing, good luck." Regal sighed.

"The probability of a successful retrieval of the legendary Moria Gallery is thirteen percent. Probability of returning alive from Moria with no outside help is thirty-five point two percent. Probability of completing both goals is six percent." Presea counted off the odds, her eyes turning ice cold for the time it took to do so, "You know your chances of success are slim to none, yet you still pursue this course? I don't know whether to commend you for your courage and optimism, or commit you for insanity."

"Commit us after we get out with the information." Caleb joked brightly, "Wren and I will need free room and board while we sort everything out."

* * *

The two friends returned to the pier and found Pepper waiting overhead for them. Caleb pulled out the EC and opened the rear hatch. Pepper landed inside with a whistle and clack of joy.

"Sorry if we took too long, girl. Wren wouldn't let me back here until I got this." the doll apologized and showed the mana beast his new Lid Shield and over-sized steel teaspoon. "I suppose it will do, though I miss my old soup spoon."

The EC was on its way south to Toize Valley, this time set on auto-pilot so Caleb could work with Pepper, training her mind with puzzles and telling her stories and fables from the books he read in Sybak. Wren spent time listening to the stories himself, and seemed to finally come out of the depressed mood he'd been in all that time. Pepper worked at the puzzles, chewing on her lower lip and snorting as she mulled over each one. Every day that passed, the mana beast grew sharper at each game and strengthened her mind enough to move large pieces of furniture with just her telekinesis.

With the same intelligence and perception that her bloodline gave her to use such powers, Pepper began to learn to read the people and environment around her. She would sit for hours, focusing on Wren so hard that the Wonder Chef would complain of a headache and Pepper squeaked in exhaustion. Caleb was next on her list of practice reads, but the doll learned to throw off her probing by plastering silly images in his mind, like dancing apples and pink rabbits flying. She whistled and clacked in laughter so hard, her concentration would break, ending any probing she might have been doing.

"_Stop trying to read my mind!_" Wren snapped one day when Pepper went into that gradual trance that was becoming associated with her probes. She jolted out of the phase, rearing as best she could in the cargo hold and screeching angrily. "If you'd just leave me alone, you wouldn't be freaking out right now!" the chef added irritably. Caleb looked at him in confusion and the blonde passed his hand over his eyes. "I need to take something for this headache and lie down for a while. How much longer before we reach Toize?" he sighed. The doll checked the control board of the Elemental Cargo.

"According to the readouts, we should arrive sometime later this afternoon, provided we don't hit a storm or anything. The weather has been with us so far." Caleb replied and began collecting his supply pack. "I'd better get the right things this time. And I bought a good supply of Life Bottles, just in case anything does go bad down there. I don't want to take a chance on either one of you."

"Us? What about _you_?" Wren asked as he began brewing a tea in the kitchenette. Pepper squawked her agreement, looking indignant at the idea that anything would dare to bring harm to her or her friends in that stupid mine.

"I should be fine with the Tri-Crystal System in me. If I lose primary power during an ambush, I can easily switch to secondary." Caleb replied, sliding the teaspoon onto his back, "I'm an automatic doll, I don't die."

"First time for everything." Wren commented dryly and went to lie down with his tea in one hand.


	4. Chapter 4

Ch 4

The Toize Valley mine itself was easy enough to enter. All Caleb had to do was enter in Regal's key card and he, Wren and Pepper were walking past the security system as smoothly as a picnic stroll on the beach. The inside of the mine was another story. Even though it was regularly excavated for new ores and other useful materials, monsters still roamed within the underground walls. Monsters that chased after Wren and Caleb until Pepper blasted them with her _Mana Light_, a horizontal variation of Luna's _Ray_ spell. Dozens of beams of light shot from Pepper's body, slamming into anything that tried to get close.

The bigger monsters that held little fear of the mana beast were taken out by a combination of Wren's explosive recipes and Caleb's agile swordplay with a spoon. Once, to startle Wren and catch the rock golems stomping towards them off guard, Caleb stood still beside the cooking blonde, tracing out his focus point and then casting _Wind Blade_ on the group of them.

"But you're an automatic doll! You can't use magic! You don't have the mana for it, or the bloodline!" Wren cried in shock once the battle was over. Caleb laughed sheepishly.

"That's what I said at first, too! My body frame is made of an aionis alloy and my Tri-Crystal System comes with a spare hexagonal mana crystal to use however I want, and I chose to use magic." he explained, "So, I learned a few spells here and there. I'm hoping to get some field experience with them."

The tunnel entrance was just up ahead. After Caleb slid the card into the security device set beside the locked door, it opened slowly before them, leading into a darkened tunnel that seemed to stretch for miles ahead. A railcar system was set up inside, the tracks following the tunnel to its end. Caleb looked around from the doorway, then caught Wren's attention as the chef peered into the darkness.

"The pressure will be high if it gets too deep in Moria, and the air will be thick and hard to breathe if the ventilation system was also destroyed in the collapse." Caleb murmured softly to the blonde, "Pepper and I can survive that; she's a being of mana and magic, and I have no need of air." Wren glared at him.

"If your next words translate into me staying behind, I'm going to skewer your head on my fork and see if Altessa can fix _that_." he growled irritably. Caleb smiled nervously. "I'm not backing out of this. I have too much at stake here."

"Okay, okay. Come on." Caleb relented and the three of them walked into the tunnel. The sound of sliding metal made them stop and they looked back with mixed emotions as the door slid shut behind them, the sound of a lock clicking into place like the final toll of a death bell. "We'll use the rail cars to get to Moria. At least we won't have to walk the whole way there." the doll said after a long pause and went to examine the car's systems while Pepper jumped into one of them in the train. She whistled and chirped, sending images of rushing wind into the minds of both men.

"I wish she wouldn't do that to me, too." Wren sighed, climbing into another car. Caleb shrugged helplessly and returned to figuring out the systems.

"Hmm. Okay, I see." he muttered and pressed a few buttons, watching several lines on a grid light up, "Okay, I got it! I've set the train to take us to Moria, but there's gonna be some turns to it. Apparently, this tunnel is part of a network that was used to mine Exspheres. That accounts for the special locking mechanism." the doll remarked and climbed into the car with Wren as the train began to move down the tracks.

* * *

Pepper whistled shrilly with pleasure as the train sped onwards to Moria. Wren covered his ears with his hands, sitting down in the car to keep the breath from being forced out of his lungs. 

"_Does she have to keep doing that?!_" he yelled over the sounds of clacking wheels, rushing wind and screeching mana beast, "_I know she's having fun, but I'll take her mental projections over this any day!_" Caleb smiled sympathetically down at him, then returned to looking out for any wrong turns or fallen rubble on the tracks. The ride had taken them several hours, and the console on the lead car marked the journey almost at an end. "_Are we there..._" Wren began to shout and the train slowed to a halt in front of a gateway made of stone and metal, "_...yet?!_ Ah, sorry." Caleb stared up at it.

"That's dwarven architecture, but it's familiar. I think it's the same as the design style used in building the Famine Temple!" he murmured in shock, "Wren, we're here in Moria!"

Pepper whistled sadly at the end of the ride, then leaped out of her car to shake herself off and sat down, beginning the process of grooming and straightening her fur. Wren exited and stumbled about for a few minutes, trying to get himself used to solid stable ground again. Caleb dug through his pack and brought out a candlestick. He placed it into a lantern and lit the wick, closing the tiny door in the side and holding up the source of light. Pepper jerked her head up to examine it, then clacked and returned to her grooming.

"I need a break to work out my legs." Wren remarked and flinched as the echo of his words sounded down the long tunnel. He looked at the walls and surrounding rock before rubbing his arms to ward off a sudden chill. "I seriously don't like it down here." he mumbled.

"The arch is carved directly into the surrounding stone. This metal must have been inlaid afterwards so as to help support the arch." Caleb remarked with interest as he studied the gateway, "These stones have protective charms engraved on them, as well as greetings and a warning to potential enemies about the strength of numbers the dwarves possess." He held the light up to study the markings better, leaning forward to trace the patterns with the tips of his fingers. "It reads, _'To those seeking entry into the House of Moria, be ye friend of dwarf or foe of knowledge, the treasure of the deep be closer than ye think.'_"

"Does he come with a Ruin Mode?" Wren asked Pepper, who only looked at him as if to say that that had been the dumbest question she'd ever heard, then returned to chewing on her arm. The Wonder Chef sighed. "This is going to be tiring indeed." he muttered.

* * *

Moria itself was dark and littered with rubble from whatever it was that had happened the previous year. Machinery and broken metal lay scattered about with the fallen rock and open pits. Wren carried the lantern as Caleb swept the floor with his illuminated optics, twin shafts of shimmering green light scanning the area for any kind of danger, winking out on occasion as the doll blinked. Pepper stuck close by, looking around almost fearfully at times and bumping into more than her fair share of stalagmites. 

The smell of rotting bodies wafted through the air at some places where great concentrations of monsters could be seen from a distance. Wren covered his mouth as his face turned from green to white. Both Caleb and Pepper turned away and blocked the sounds as the Wonder Chef finished being sick off the smell and sight of monsters tearing into Martel-knew-what. Though the trek was more difficult than the first path, the group wisely chose to circle around the pack of beasts and move on, taking their chances with rubble and narrow spaces to walk through. Sometimes a stray monster would come their way and Caleb would dart in to stun it with the flame of the Sorcerer's Ring, giving Wren and Pepper time to kill it off without fear of additional monsters hearing the sounds of a battle.

_Mana Light_ was too vivid for the darkness, so Pepper began to use her FireBlossom attacks, incinerating evidence of the monster with _Lethal Flora_, a super-hot flame that spiraled around the corpse to seal it off and then collapsed inwards to burn the creature from the inside out, fire blooming out like deadly flower petals from its body. Caleb would whisper praise to her each time she did an attack well and in concert with what he or Wren did to take out the monster in silence. With that reassurance and reward, Pepper gained the insight of which attacks were most useful in a situation and when to unleash them based on what she was seeing before her. _Lethal Flora_ was breathed from her mouth, so she had the most control over it than _Mana Light_.

"It feels like we've been down here for _days_! We don't even know _how_ to look for the Moria Gallery!" Wren whispered harshly as they rested in a circle of stalagmites, the lantern set in the center to ward off the darkness and give them some warmth. Pepper dozed as she curled along the perimeter of the circle, protecting both men's backs with her own body as she also maintained the comfort of warmth. Caleb sighed and checked his internal clock.

"Well, we have been down here for a day and a half, so you're technically right. The words said that the Gallery was closer than we think. Maybe if we just go straight to the bottom level, then work our way back to the top, searching each floor, we'll come across it." the doll pondered aloud. He looked over at the chef. "Don't worry. We'll find Moria Gallery and everything will turn out for the better, you'll see."

"Or we all end up dead down here and turned into five-star meals for a bunch of stupid monsters." Wren grumbled and dug into his pack, "I need a snack." Pepper's eyes popped open and she stared at the bag in hopes that 'snack' meant she would get one, too. Caleb noticed and smiled.

"Don't be so pessimistic." he remarked as he fished out an apple to appease the mana beast. The blonde sighed between bites of a sandwich and rubbed at his head.

"I know, I know. Sorry. I didn't come along to bring everyone down. And you've put up with me like this for this long. I shouldn't be pushing my luck and your patience." he murmured. Caleb kept his smile.

"Yeah, you shouldn't." he agreed, then looked serious. "Okay, I think I've had enough time puzzling out what's been up with you. Let me see if I have it straight." he remarked, noticing the chef come to a start, then huddle up, legs pulled close to his body in a hug as he gazed hauntingly into the light of the lantern. "The Wonder Organization never really needed new recipes. You're just using it as an excuse to overstay in other cities." Caleb remarked with an expression of disapproval, "You ran away from the Wonder Chef Family!"

"Caleb... I wish that was the case. I really wish this was all just a stupid idea I had to escape my duties as Wonder Chef." Wren answered and looked up at the redhead, the single blue eye that escaped the curtain of his blonde hair filled with hollow exhaustion. "I said I would tell you after I got those recipes."

"I'm not waiting anymore! If whatever is going on is doing this to you, wasting you away to this shell of a man I used to know, then, damn it, I need to know what it is!" Caleb demanded and ground his teeth when the chef shut his eyes tightly and buried his face in his knees. "You want to play it that way? _Fine!_ Pepper!" the doll snapped and the mana beast looked up warily, not liking the tones of the voices. "Use your mental probe on Wren and find out what he's hiding from me." he commanded, "Search for a connection to the Wonder Organization and this obsession with new recipes." Pepper whistled in worry but went into her trance.

"_Stop it!_" Wren shrieked, hands flying up to hold his head. "I said stop!" He held out a little longer, wailing loudly as his fingers dug into his scalp. "All right! _All right!_ I'll tell you, just knock it off!" Caleb tapped Pepper on the snout and she blinked, ending the probe and she looked between the two of them in confusion.

"Okay, then. If you're not running around without Wonder funds to support you because you decided to make a run for it, then _why_?" the doll growled. Wren sighed and glared back up at the redhead, a faint red stain just below his nose that he quickly wiped away with a corner of his cape.

"You can be a real bastard sometimes, you know?" the chef replied bitterly.

"Why, thank you, my dear, charming little cook." Caleb shot back, mimicking the tone Zelos had once used when he mocked Sheena in the Tower of Salvation, "But I still haven't heard an explanation for all this. You're my friend, but I won't stand for you refusing help when I'm offering it to you, no strings attached."

"Fine, fine." Wren grumbled, arms folded over his chest as he glared into the lamplight, "I told you how the Wonder Organization reacted when they learned of my memory loss and recovery, right? They sent the best physicians and therapists to make sure I was completely there. That all of the knowledge I had before my ambush and abduction was still there."

"That was awfully nice of them." Caleb muttered. Wren snorted.

"Tch, _nice_? I found it **annoying**. I wasn't dying of any illness, but they kept prescribing medicines for me to take, even suggested that I take a leave of duty until they were sure of my recovery." he growled, "The Council of Gourmet Chefs wouldn't have it, of course. But I guess they had some lingering doubts. So, before an audience and the Council, I was tested on my skills and knowledge in cooking, the trial used to test potential Wonder Chef successors before they ascended to take the Wonder Fork."

"That doesn't seem so bad."

"I failed."

"That's bad."

"You think?" Wren muttered, "I'm _supposed _to be the great Wonder Chef, the leader of the Wonder Organization, the best chef in the world and possessor of the Ultimate Recipe... and I failed to make a decent stew."

"How'd you manage that anyway?" Caleb asked in confusion. Wren laughed bitterly.

"It was kinda stupid, actually. I mixed up the ingredients on account that I was more worried about trying to _make_ the stew that I never actually decided which one to make and wound up throwing **everything** into the pot. One of the Council Chefs threw up after a sniff of the stuff; I thought my grandmother was going to faint from embarrassment." he replied. He sighed and shrugged. "Well, it was a shock to the whole Organization. It practically divided them up. A large part of them began demanding that I immediately step down from my position as Wonder Chef. Another group insisted that I was perfectly capable of doing my job, I just needed some time alone to sort things out. The rest are just ignoring me, waiting for Regal to come along and boot me out."

"What about your family?"

"Last I heard, they were calling my sister from her attempted self-imposed exile, hoping she'll come when she hears about my lack of focus and either talk some sense into me or finally get married. Whoever she marries becomes the next best successor to the position of Wonder Chef."

"A woman can't be Wonder Chef?"

"Oh, yeah, they can. She just doesn't want to. Can't stand being in a kitchen. Says the temptation to eat and get fat is too high." Wren grinned, "We may be twins, but we're totally different when it comes to cooking."

"Okay, so how does you running around on a quest to find ancient recipes fit in?" Caleb pressed on. Wren sighed.

"I was getting to that. With the Wonder Organization divided, and confidence in my abilities fading, my father set a sentence on my head. Sort of an ultimatum." he muttered, propping one cheek on a fist. "The Wonder Organization agreed to it, of course. All I have to do to prove I can still be Wonder Chef, that I still have all my skills and didn't suddenly become a total _idiot_, is find a set of new recipes that they can use to modify and experiment with."

"That doesn't seem so bad." Caleb remarked brightly.

"And if I can't find any before this year ends, the Family and the Organization will disown me."

"That's just **wrong**." Caleb growled. Wren laughed shortly.

"That's only half of it. The part of the Organization that wants me out of the position fast is hoping I'll get killed in the journey; the part that's hoping I succeed is trying to help, but by flocking to all the places that could have been of help to me they drew the attention of the Dark Chefs; and the part that's ignoring me is doing a damn good job of it." he summed up.

"You're in a real bind, then. No wonder you've been so easy to tick off lately." Caleb remarked in realization, "But you also said you wanted to be free of being the Wonder Chef. So why not use this as an excuse to step down and gain your freedom?"

"Because I _can't_ now!" Wren told him in near panic, "The original rules of the Wonder Organization decreed that if a Wonder Chef were to step down or be removed upon the ascension of a new family line, he or she would be confined to the base forever to prevent the spread of the knowledge of the Ultimate Recipe. But after one of the Wonder Chefs betrayed the laws by discriminating against half-elves, the rule was changed to send resigned Wonder Chefs to human ranches! They were sent to death, Caleb! They were executed to keep the Recipe a secret!" Caleb looked startled as Wren held his head almost despairingly, "And now that there aren't any human ranches and the Angelus Project is gone, no one knows what to do with me if the Organization declares me unfit to be Wonder Chef! That's why I had wished that they **did** think I had died last year! Then I'd be free of my title **without** having to forfeit my life!"

"Can't you just promise never to tell anyone about the Recipe?!" Caleb asked, appalled, "Do you really have to give up your _life_ to protect it?!"

"It's either that or agree to exile in some Goddess-forsaken land without hope of ever seeing civilization again. Basically, I have to no longer exist in the world to keep it safe. Caleb, I can't afford to lose my title and position." Wren sighed and shook his head. "As it stands now, the Wonder Organization is too badly divided to stand up against the Dark Chefs, and I just _know _they're up to something. Ginger Spicewood, that spy, still has a ton of information stolen from us. It's only a matter of time before the Dark Chef Alliance uses it, and the Wonder Organization will fall. I can feel that." Wren stood up and sighed. "I have to stay on as the Wonder Chef, no matter what it costs me. I'm the only one who can stand up against Ginger's tricks and knows what it is she can dish out. There's no time to train anyone to take my place, unless the Organization's already begun doing that." For a long moment, only silence reigned. Finally, Caleb stood with him, Pepper following after a mental griping about all the blathering they had done.

"Well, let's get going and find those recipes then. You always seem to get yourself into trouble with very little effort, y'know?" Caleb remarked with a smile. Wren blinked at him, then laughed, the haunted look in his eyes beginning to fade.

"It's a gift." he joked and the little group continued their quest.


	5. Chapter 5

Ch 5

The pressure remained oddly stable as they climbed down the stone stairwells to the lower levels of the mines. Air was still circulating from the ventilation system that survived the collapse. Even then, Wren was growing weaker as they went on. More than once they halted the progress to let the chef catch his breath. The monsters were growing more aggressive and actively began to hunt them. Running from packs of monsters when Wren could no longer keep conscious long enough to cook up exploding meatballs to use on them, Caleb and Pepper managed to elude the creatures long enough to wait for the chef to revive, then rest for the next mad dash to freedom.

"This should be the nineteenth level if my calculations are correct." Caleb remarked as Wren finally came around for what seemed like the tenth time since they made it into the mid-double digit levels. He peered at the chef worriedly. "Wren, you're looking worse the further we go. What's happening to you? My sensors indicate that the environment is very similar to the one we were in when we first entered Moria. There shouldn't be anything affecting you this way."

"I... I don't know. I've been feeling lightheaded since..." the chef murmured vaguely and blinked, "...since Pepper tried that probe and I did everything I could to block her out." He sighed and dropped his forehead into one hand for support. "I think I busted something doing that."

"You should have said something earlier." Caleb sighed and held out a hand, the other going over his 'heart', "_First Aid!_" The mana swirled over the young chef and he breathed a little easier. "Feel better?"

"Much, thanks." Wren answered cheerfully and looked around, "So, how many levels are in this place anyway?" Pepper stalked towards the darkness, fur rising as her eyes narrowed, wings lifting in preparation for flight or combat.

"Don't know, but get ready. We've got company." Caleb growled, scrambling to his feet and grabbing the spoon tightly in one hand.

"Aren't these the same bunch that just keep chasing us around?!" Wren exclaimed in disbelief as the monsters stalked towards them, chops slathering as their eyes glowed brightly in the darkness. Pepper uttered a shrill scream at them as she backed up, maintaining her ground in front of the two men.

"Yes. I don't know how they keep track of us, but it seems like we've become their favorite group of prey to hunt." Caleb muttered, "I don't know how much mana is left in my free use crystal. It will take time to recharge if I drain it and Pepper has a hard time pulling mana from the lantern's light without snuffing it out."

"Can Pepper use her _Mana Light_ or _Lethal Flora_ to get rid of them?"

"There's too many of them for her to blast with _Mana Light_ and they always seem to stay out of reach of her _Lethal Flora_."

"Okay. Then I guess this qualifies..." Wren sighed and stepped forward, passing Pepper by. Caleb yelped in surprise.

"Wren! What are you doing?! Get back here! We have to distract them with fireballs and escape!" the doll yelled.

"I'm as sick of running as I am being yanked around by the cooks of the divided Wonder Organization!" Wren declared and pulled the Wonder Fork free, spinning it with both hands above his head. "I'm getting rid of these things for good!"

"With a single fork?!"

"Trust me! The Wonder Fork has one ability that can only be used if all other options are unavailable! Here goes!" Wren declared and brought the fork down before him, bracing his legs. Caleb could only make out a few words as the blonde murmured under his breath, "... fury... fire..." The fork suddenly flashed white, filling the cavern with brilliant light that forced his friends to look away. "_Incineration!_"

It took some time before Caleb and Pepper's vision returned. The light had long gone and Wren was giving the fork its last few twirls before sliding it onto his back once more, a long, slow exhale of breath escaping his mouth. Caleb looked around as the mana beast trotted forward, sniffing at the rocky ground in confusion.

"Wren, what happened? Where did all the monsters go?" the doll asked.

"Ah, well... you see those little shadows all over the place?"

"Yeah? Oh? Ohhh... _Ouch._"

"Uh huh. That's why monsters don't really mess with a Wonder Chef that much." Wren muttered and put on a smile, "So, where's the next stairwell?" Caleb stared at him, wide-eyed, while Pepper jumped and pawed at the shadows burned into the rock. "Oh come on! It wasn't _that_ bad! It's not like I cast _Judgment_ on them or anything! I'm no angel!" Wren exclaimed in exasperation and spun on one heel, "Let's go!"

"With an ability like that, who needs _Judgment_?" Caleb asked the empty air and ran after him, whistling for Pepper to come along.

* * *

"Okay, we've reached what appears to be the twentieth floor of Moria." Caleb remarked after another few hours. "Our time down here is now calculated to be five days and thirteen hours, which would have been less if we hadn't been chased in circles from floors fifteen through nineteen by those stupid monsters." Pepper bounded ahead, clacking happily as she shoved over rocks, stalagmites and statues with her legs and large paws. 

"She's enjoying herself." Wren chuckled, "Hey, Pepper! Target practice!" He picked up a few fist sized rocks as Caleb held up the lantern. "Use _Mana Light_, okay? See if you can hit these!" The chef threw a rock into the air and Pepper watched it arc before firing a beam of light at it. She missed and the mana beast whistled in disappointment.

"Keep trying! Don't give up!" Caleb cheered as Wren tossed another rock into the air. Pepper aimed a little more carefully, then timed her blast and squealed when it hit. She leaped about and looked at them for more. "Good going! Throw another one!" They practiced her shooting skills for a little longer as they walked along. Pepper grew better at aiming and timing her attacks, shooting each rock with pin-point accuracy.

"She's going to be a lethal creature when she gets older." Wren commented as Caleb kept his eyes open for a gate or doorway that may lead them to the Moria Gallery.

"Yeah. Good thing Pepper's on our side. Hey, have you noticed something odd about this place?" the doll asked warily. Wren laughed as he tossed another rock further out into the darkness, testing the mana beast's ability to see in the dark. Another accurate shot.

"No, not really. Why?" the chef finally responded, hurling one last rock as far as he could. Caleb stopped and looked around with a frown on his face.

"Because we've been wandering around here for hours and not a single monster has tried to jump us." he answered. The rock hit something fleshy before Pepper could fire off the shot and a pair of eyes snapped open, then narrowed in a fury.

"Meh, if anything managed to survive _Incineration_, they'd be too freaked out to follow us." Wren dismissed the thought, "Don't worry about it. Let's just find the Gallery and those recipes. I really ought to tell the Wonder Organization to just chill out. Stuff some fruit cocktail down their throats and tell them to lay off."

"You tend to get violent when you're irritated."

"Well, if I'm leader of the whole thing, why should I have to be yanked around by the Wonder Cooks?"

"Probably because they're actually worried about you deep down inside." Caleb remarked thoughtfully, "Think about it. You've got the Ultimate Recipe in your head. All those Wonder Cooks are constantly training and blocking the Dark Chefs' access to large concentrations of ingredients, like restaurants and stuff. Why? Well, if they get a hold of those ingredients, the Dark Chefs will be able to gather enough strength to lay siege on wherever your headquarters is and get to you." Wren gave him an incredulous look. "Don't give me that look. You've got your vulnerabilities too, Wren. What I mean to say is that though you are the leader of the Wonder Organization, you have the responsibility of protecting everything your family stands for, and that may include allowing others to make decisions about your life that will offer the best chance of preserving that legacy. That includes the ruling on mandatory death or exile for those that leave the position."

"Whose side are you on?" Wren complained and both men jumped as Pepper made a strange sound that seemed a cross between a growl and a hiss, followed by a response in the form of a reptilian hiss. "What was _that_?"

"I dunno, but it's freaking Pepper out." Caleb muttered and carefully stepped forward, spying a shimmering violet streak in the earth, "Hey! I recognize that!" He ran ahead and knelt before the metal that lay on the ground, covered in grime and dried blood. "This is the Excalibur! This is Kratos' sword! What's it doing here?"

Pepper suddenly shrieked in a fury and began firing blasts of _Mana Light_ as a large green dragon swooped down from the darkness, screaming. Caleb jerked up in shock and leaped back out of the way, sword forgotten as the rush of wind from the creature's scaled wings covered it further with dust and rubble. Wren ducked, holding onto a nearby stalagmite as the dragon flew by and began to turn for another pass at them. Pepper took to the air, shrieking still as she fired _Mana Light_ once more, carpet bombing the air with the beams as the dragon moved swiftly to evade and launched an attack of its own.

"Move it! Run!" Caleb yelled as he raced towards Wren, "Back to the stairs! We'll lose it there! Pepper! Come on!" The fireball from the dragon slammed the ground, sending rubble and the doll flying as Wren cried in terror and darted for cover. Caleb landed roughly and scrambled to his feet, ignoring the partial burns and rips in his clothes as he scanned the area for his friends.

"Over here! You okay?" the chef called out from another mound of rock and debris. Caleb began running after him again.

"Yeah! Keep running! Don't stand there!" the doll shouted.

Overhead, Pepper began hurling boulders at the dragon, grabbing them from anywhere her attention caught and using the full strength of her psychic powers to launch them at the monster. A shield of fire began to circle the dragon, slamming aside the rocks as it flew right at her. Pepper stood her ground for the moment, flapping her wings as she loosed her claws, then charged for the dragon, shrieking madly. They collided halfway through the cave; Pepper breaking past the shield with little harm due to her FireBlossom bloodline; the dragon opening its mouth to reveal rows of sharp jagged teeth that had ripped apart thousands of prey in the past.

"Go, go, go, go, go!" Caleb barked out as the two men clambered over rocks and pits to get to the stairs, "Peppermint! Get down here! You're going to get hurt!" The mana beast ignored him, busy with digging her claws into the creature's scale hide, trying to inflict damage that way as she bit down into its shoulder. The dragon roared out in pain and flew into a wall, crashing both of the creatures into the rock. "PEPPER!"

Caleb stood still and watched in horror as both dragon and mana beast fell to the ground in a tangled heap. Sporting dirty, mussed fur and bleeding from several deep claw wounds the dragon's legs had inflicted upon her, Pepper struggled to rise, crying softly in pain as her wings flapped weakly. The dragon shifted and climbed to its feet, a difficult maneuver as it had no true forelimbs to work with. The mana beast looked back at it tiredly, but bared her teeth anyway. She began to turn around, scratching at the earth in preparation for yet another battle.

"Call her back! She won't survive another hit like that!" Wren yelled from where he stood not far from the doll. Caleb remained numb from shock, watching silently as the dragon roared and took to the air once more. "Caleb! Snap out of it!"

Pepper shrieked and resumed her initial barrage of _Mana Light_, firing erratically into the air after the dragon. Her body shone with the light of the attack, filling the cavern with a brightness that it had never seen. Caleb shook his head and stood his ground, going into spell casting mode.

"I will not allow you to hurt her anymore!" the doll shouted in rage, "You will pay for what you've done!" The dragon opened its jaws to launch another huge ball of fire. "_Wind Blade!_"

"Don't attack it, you idiot! Caleb!" Wren shrieked as the dragon was hit dead on by the blades of concentrated air. It threw its head as it fought to regain control, loosing the attack far off its mark. Pepper ran for cover, ignoring her pain and wounds in favor of making sure she at least lived to heal them. Caleb stared up at the incoming flames in horror as the realization of what he had done hit home. He cried out once, then again when he was bodily slammed, then thrown aside from the point of impact. He and Wren tumbled through the air, finally landing yards away from the smoking pit.

"Wren!" the doll cried in concern, climbing to all fours and crawling quickly to where the chef lay on his back amidst the broken rubble and rock, arms spread against the debris, "Wren!" The doll immediately knelt to cast _First Aid_, concentrating as hard as he could to heal his friend.

"Ouch..." the blonde managed to gasp out and looked up at his friend through lidded eyes, a slight grin on his face, "Heh, saved you this time." He cringed and coughed. "Remind me... not to... do that... again." he added between wheezes, "I made something... to knock out... the dragon. It's... in that sack there." Wren turned his head towards a brown satchel that looked stuffed and was seeping juices. Caleb followed his gaze in confusion, the spell fading as he lost focus. "I threw together some meat and herbs, plus some extra special ingredients, into that sack and cooked it over the lantern." Wren coughed again and closed his eyes. "Not my best meat stew, but the mix should be powerful enough to put that thing to sleep for a long time."

"All right. I'll get it to eat the stew." Caleb murmured and turned back to him sternly, "You focus on getting better. I don't know if that _First Aid_ helped or not..."

"It did. Go...!" Wren griped and watched the doll swallow hard before snatching up the satchel and running towards Pepper. He smiled slightly. "My mission ends here, my friend. Sorry." he whispered and closed his eyes once more with a sigh.

"Pepper! Got enough strength in you for one more run at that thing?" Caleb called out, running after the mana beast as the dragon circled overhead, screaming in a fury. Pepper looked up at it with a tired expression, then shook herself off and nodded. "Okay! Get me in close to it and I'll jump off to launch this stew into its mouth. You get out of its way when I jump." he explained hurriedly as he climbed onto her back. Pepper whistled questioningly, looking up at him in worry. "Don't worry! It'll work! And I can land as hard as I want from the height this cave gives us! I won't get hurt!" With a sigh, Pepper pumped her wings, then leaped into the air, ready to face the dragon once more.

It shrieked when it saw her and flew straight for Pepper, mouth open to bite into the young mana beast. Caleb crouched on her back, gripping her fur tightly with one hand, then leaped up, hurling the dripping satchel of meat into the creature's open mouth. The jaws snapped shut and the dragon swallowed quickly before resuming its chase of the mana beast. Caleb spun through the air, flailing about as he hit the ground once more. Something shattered and he felt the drain of power almost instantly.

"Ugh! No...!" he cried weakly and grew faint, "Switch to secondary power! Reroute additional energy from free use crystal!" Whether the order he gave himself worked or not, he didn't know, only that he had promised he'd be safe when falling and had proved himself wrong as he slipped into oblivion.

Determined not to give the creature a chance to harm her friends, Pepper slammed the dragon once more, diving down to pin it to the cave floor. With a shrill cry of pain, she pulled herself from the monster and stumbled away, finally collapsing in a heap mere yards from it. The severe damage done to the cave floor from the clash of beasts was more than it could bear, and a huge crack split it open, sending both dragon and Excalibur into the depths of the twenty-first floor.


	6. Chapter 6

Ch 6

The secondary system kicked in after a minute and Caleb groaned as he lifted himself from where he lay, facedown, in the rubble. He rubbed at his face and coughed up a mouthful of pebbles and earth.

"I thought the secondary system kicked in instantly when the primary fails." he croaked and shook his head of as much dust as he could, coughing out additional debris. The ribbon that held his hair back was gone, probably lost or destroyed in the battles he'd been in, and now got in the way as the doll opened his chest to replace the shattered gem. With only one working crystal powering him after switching back to primary power, Caleb lost the ability to use magic. He studied the glittering shards in his hands and sighed again. "Looks like Pepper is going to have her work cut out for her." he muttered and gave a start, searching the cave in horror, "Pepper! That's right! The dragon!"

Caleb raced to the dirty white form lying on its side on the floor and dropped by Pepper, on the verge of tears. She breathed heavily, each labored gasp filled with pain as the mana beast gazed at him with lidded eyes.

"Pepper... I told you to **dodge** it, you silly girl..." Caleb whispered. Pepper whistled faintly as if to defend her actions. An image of Mana Fruit bloomed weakly in the doll's mind and he lit up. "Of course! Mana Fruit will help you heal!" He searched his pack and pulled out his entire supply, a week's worth of special treats, then fed them all to the mana beast. Pepper crunched each fruit slowly, gaining strength with each large dose of mana she absorbed into her body. Bit by bit, her wounds began healing and her health began to return. When she lifted her head and licked at Caleb's cheek, he knew that she would be all right.

"You can finish healing on your own, huh?" he asked and Pepper nodded carefully before resting her head again. Caleb stood after stroking her snout and walked towards Wren with the lantern in hand. The chef had remained still in the rubble where he had landed moments before. "Wren... It worked." the doll murmured as he dropped to his knees by the blonde and set the light down nearby. He waited for an answer but received none. "Wren?" he whispered worriedly and poked at his shoulder, "Wren, wake up!" The pokes turned to shakes as Caleb tried to get a response from the silent chef. "Wake up! Come **on**, I **told** you to get better!"

On an impulse, the doll pressed his fingertips against Wren's cheek. Still warm, but the color was fading fast, turning a ghastly white under the smudges of dirt that stained his face. Caleb felt for a pulse, found it so weak it barely was detectable, and dove for his pack of supplies. He searched it for the Life Bottles and pulled one out, clutching the small vial so tightly it shattered in his hand.

"No!" Caleb cried and blinked at the shimmering liquid light that flowed between his fingers and disappeared into nothing, "That looks like... liquid mana?" He shook his head and pulled another one from the bag, this time being careful with it as he opened the glass stopper. The doll gently lifted Wren's head and put the vial to his mouth, emptying the contents of the Life Bottle into the Wonder Chef. He waited anxiously for signs that the potion worked. "Wren... please wake up. Please! Don't let your quest end like this!" Caleb whispered fiercely as tears filled his eyes. Droplets fell onto the blonde's dirt-streaked face and Wren finally flinched, moving his mouth to speak as his eyes remained closed.

"...Cold..." he managed to say. Caleb blinked in surprise, then smiled in relief.

"You made it." he murmured and hugged his friend, "We all made it."

* * *

Moria Gallery took a backseat in Caleb's list of priorities as he made his way back towards the surface. Pepper had almost fully healed, walking more easily beside the doll as she continued pulling at the lantern hanging from the sash around her for additional mana to continue her recovery. Caleb carried the unconscious Wonder Chef in his arms, glaring out at the network of caves and tunnels with its myriad of beasts that had so nearly succeeded in ending his life. Strapped to his back was the Wonder Fork, unresponsive to any of Caleb's attempts to work with its teleportation ability.

Monsters continued to pursue the group as they worked their way upwards. On Caleb's orders, Pepper fine-tuned her psychic abilities, implanting suggestions that they weren't the prey they were looking for or sending a weak-willed beast upon another as a distraction. The mana beast looked angry and fired an accurate _Mana Light_ beam in the center of a rock golem's head as it tried to block their path. She snorted when it toppled aside and pressed on, tail swishing angrily behind her.

Hours stretched on as the automatic doll and the mana beast marched their way to the upper levels of Moria. So intent were they on reaching sunlight that Caleb almost missed Wren's revival.

"Ugh. What... hit me?" the chef groaned softly, blinking slowly as he tried to focus on his surroundings. He suddenly panicked. "Let... let me go!" Wren cried and struggled. Caleb yelped and fought to keep him stable, falling back with a grunt as Wren managed to gain control of his legs and kicked for the doll's face. "Let me go! I'm not going to help you hurt more innocent people!" he shouted and thrashed about as Pepper came to a halt and stared at them, cocking her head in uncertainty.

"Wren! Wren, calm down! It's me!" Caleb yelled and pinned the chef down, "_Wren!_ Snap out of it! It's _me_! Your friend Caleb!" At the name, Wren stilled and blinked at him, catching his breath after the struggle.

"Oh." he finally remarked. Caleb glared at him.

"That's **it**? You scare the holy hell out of me by nearly dying, you kick me in the face, and then you try to beat me up, and all you can say about it is _'Oh'_?" he snapped, "What's wrong with you _now_, you brainless Wonder Chef?" Wren sniffed and matched him glare for glare.

"Let me up first." he answered and got his wish. He sat up and dusted himself off, then folded his arms over his chest. "Sorry. I had a nightmare. I didn't mean to kick you." he apologized. Caleb rubbed his jaw to check for damage, found none and eyed the blonde warily.

"You tend to get violent when you're startled." he muttered.

"Where are we now?" Wren asked, ignoring the remark in favor of searching the cave visually for signs of the battle, "I remember the blast of fireballs that knocked us for a loop, then telling you to get that meat stew to the dragon." He looked back at the doll. "How did that work out anyway?"

"Dunno. When I gave it the sack, I fell and broke my primary mana crystal. By the time I woke up, the dragon was gone, Pepper was barely conscious and you, you **idiot**, were a step away from death's door!" Caleb growled, "How many times do I **have** to tell you to be careful? You're a human! Humans can **die**!"

"I survived, didn't I?" Wren countered in exasperation, "Now, where are we?"

"Stuck down here, _that's_ where we are." Caleb grumbled and pointed at a rockslide barring the staircase just up ahead, "All of our fighting monsters and that dragon shook up Moria pretty badly. We're trapped down here." Pepper walked up to the wall of rubble, sniffed at it, and sat down in annoyance, ears pulled down. Wren joined her and kicked at one of the boulders, then stood back and sighed, gazing up at the rubble pile with his arms folded over his chest again.

"Well, this isn't good. Did we at least find Moria Gallery?" he asked. Caleb walked up beside him and shook his head. "We can't go back the way we came, we can't go down any further, and we didn't find the Moria Gallery..." Wren growled, narrowing his eyes at the rock wall, fists tightening at his sides. "_I **hate** this stupid quest for stupid recipes!_" he finally shrieked at it, turning a shade of red that would make a tomato jealous. Pepper jumped and dashed off in a panic. Caleb threw up his hands in exasperation.

"Stop **screaming** at things! That's not helping anyone!" he yelled at the blonde.

"**You're** the one screaming now, you hypocrite!" Wren yelled back. Pepper shrieked from her perch on another pile of rubble, wings spread and fur fluffed up. The threesome spent the next hour or so venting frustration and stress, splitting apart to destroy rocks then coming together to fume and shriek once more. Finally, exhausted and drained, the group came together one last time to fall asleep in a heap.

* * *

Refreshed by the long rest they had, Wren, Caleb and Pepper were able to study their situation with clearer minds. Knowing that Wren was still easily frustrated by a problem he couldn't solve with his cooking, Caleb suggested he spend his time helping Pepper multitask by having her float a rock and fire on it with _Mana Light_ at the same time. Wren held a few treats on hand as incentives. With the two living beings occupied, Caleb sat, yoga-like, in front of the wall and ran through various mental simulations of escape, hoping to find one that would be successful without promising certain doom to Wren or Pepper.

"I might need a little help with this one." he muttered after a bit. He closed his eyes and focused. "Martel, can you hear me? I need your help."

_"Caleb? I sense a great amount of earth mana around you. Are you in the Temple of Earth?"_ the goddess questioned in confusion.

"I'm trapped in Moria with Pepper and Wren."

_"Wren?"_

"Ah, the Wonder Chef."

_"Adam? Adam Voraci?"_ Martel asked. Caleb turned to look at Wren in confusion.

"Wren! Hey, Wren!" he called out. The blonde chef turned to him, head tilted as he waited to see what Caleb wanted. "Do you know anyone named Adam Voraci?" Caleb asked. Wren stared at him with wide eyes, then turned and fled. "Oookay." the doll muttered, still confused as he returned to his sister, "Martel? Wren just ran off on me when I asked him about that Adam guy."

_"No, no, Caleb. The Wonder Chef's name is Adam Voraci. So, you got yourself sealed up in Moria with Pepper and Adam? Why in the world are you down there anyway?"_

"Looking for the Moria Gallery." Caleb answered and mulled over the new bit of information, "So Adam is Wren's real name, huh?"

"I **told** you it wasn't important to people." Wren remarked, coming back to confront the doll, "How did you find out what my name is, anyway? I never told anyone my name."

"Ah, hold on." Caleb told him and returned to his conversation with the goddess, "Martel, we're stuck in Moria and we can't get out. We haven't found the Moria Gallery and we're almost out of food and water. We had a few close calls and I don't want to risk Pepper and Wren any longer."

_"I can send a pair of MudPuppies to clear the way for you. I'm sure they can also help find the Gallery. Good luck and stay safe. Symphonia still needs you... all of you."_ Martel answered and Caleb stood up.

"Okay, Wren, how's Pepper doing?" he asked, turning to the Wonder Chef.

"Doing well. She's getting the hang of it but it took a heckuva lotta tries to get the concept through to her." Wren answered, "Now, how did you find out my name?"

"Martel told me. Listen. A couple of mana beasts are gonna come and help bail us out. We will continue the search for the Moria Gallery." Caleb planned and thrust his fists into the air, a confident grin on his face, "We're not gonna let Moria beat us! We're going to find that Gallery and get the library of information that's stored inside! The treasure of the deep will be ours!" The Wonder Chef stared at him, then sighed and shook his head, mentally asking himself why he insisted on entering an ancient catacomb with a doll set to Ruin Mode.

* * *

It didn't take long before the rock slide that blocked the path fell to the wayside, two large dusty-brown mana beasts standing just outside the open tunnel. The three friends ran up and thanked them, then explained their situation. With three mana beasts defending the two men, monsters chose not to try attacking, not after what they witnessed in a very angry Pepper. They traveled and searched the mines for the Moria Gallery, watching in awe as the earth-based power of the MudPuppies helped rebuild and restore the collapsed portions of Moria. Caleb studied everything he could, laughing as he pointed out sections that had evidence of dwarven craftwork.

"I _wish_ he wouldn't do that." Wren sighed, one hand covering his eyes in exasperation as Pepper rolled her own green eyes and shrugged, "It's embarrassing!"

It wasn't until they neared the top level that the MudPuppies stopped at a wall and peered at it. Caleb and Wren looked at the exit that they found with apprehension. If they walked out now, they would be admitting that they were unable to find the Gallery. The two other mana beasts squawked back at them and began clawing at the wall, then leaped back and screeched, sending pillars of stone stabbing into it from the cave floor, chipping away huge slabs of rock.

"Hey!" Caleb yelled once he saw what they were doing, "Knock it off! You're going to bring down the roof again!" Pepper blinked as she watched them, then lit up and darted in to help them out.

"I think they're onto something, Caleb!" Wren exclaimed as the wall continued to crumble apart. Under the assault of _Stone Spears_ and _Mana Light_, the false wall finally fell away to reveal a room behind it. "That's it!" Wren raced for the room as the mana beasts peered into it.

"No way." Caleb murmured and followed him.

Within the great room was a single pedestal that held a large silver gem that floated, suspended, in the light of a strange device. Wren and Caleb walked up to the pedestal and gazed at the gem in awe.

"It's beautiful." Wren whispered.

"What the hell is it?" Caleb murmured and checked the pedestal's markings, "Oh, no way. It says here that this is the Moria Gallery!"

"_This_ thing?" Wren asked incredulously, pointing at the gem.

"Yup. This thing." Caleb sighed, "The lost knowledge of the dwarves is in here. How in the world did they store an entire race's library of information in a crystal?"

"Don't know. Maybe we can take it back to Orator and ask him." Wren suggested. Caleb reached out and carefully picked up the shining gem, then tucked it into his travel pack.

"It's our only lead. Let's hope that we can get something useful out of it." the doll remarked and walked with the chef out of the room. "With a gem this size, there's bound to be more information in it than we can even imagine! And there has to be some dwarven recipes in it, too!"

"I hope so. I have to keep my position of Wonder Chef, for the sake of the Organization, my family, and my own life!" Wren sighed.

* * *

The group emerged from Moria and shielded their eyes from the sunlight, crying out painfully until they readjusted to the bright golden light. Pepper spread her wings and screamed out in joy, her body becoming fully restored by the light of the sun. Caleb blinked and looked over at Wren, staring at the drastic change in looks.

Dirty, torn, somewhat bloodied clothes, hair that looked like it was more brunet than blonde, and skin that seemed almost colorless, the Wonder Chef looked like the walking dead. Wren was studying his hands in surprise, marveling at the paleness and how the grime seemed to cake on his fingers. The Wonder Fork that Caleb had returned once they were all sane again remained as shiny as ever, the finished wood handle as spotless as the day it had been crafted. It rested against Wren's back.

"You look like Death threw you out of purgatory for spiking his dinner." Caleb joked with a wry smile. Wren looked at him, the single blue eye that could be seen under his hair a paler color blue than he was used to seeing. "Yup, Death warmed over. Wren, you need a major bath." The chef cracked a smile.

"So do you. What would Zelos say if he saw you now?" he retorted and watched Caleb walk up to a nearby stream to look into it.

"Heh, he'd probably freak out." Caleb answered, taking in the sight of his own bedraggled hair covered in grit, torn clothes in the same shape as Wren's, and several pieces of his outer skin peeled away from his shell. He looked back at the Wonder Chef with a grin. "Want to scare Martel?" he asked with a mischievous wink. Wren's pale blue eye blinked in confusion, then the expression was mirrored on his face.

"Ha ha. Why not?" he agreed and pulled out his chef's hat, "Just need to complete the image." He took the white hat into the cave for one last roll in the earth.


	7. Chapter 7

Epilogue

Martel looked up as hatchlings arched their backs and fluffed their fur, squealing in terror as they backed away from the approaching visitors, then fled. Standing to investigate, she looked at Orator and nodded her head. The mana beast nodded in return and began to walk forward to greet their 'guests'. After a few moments, the mana beast returned, an expression on his face that was part disgust, part shock, part amusement, and completely strange. Martel looked at him in confusion, then turned to see Wren and Caleb walk into the clearing with Pepper bounding after the other mana beasts to grab some fresh Mana Fruit for a rewarding snack. As soon as Martel registered how they looked, she panicked and ran up to them, staff in hand.

"Oh! Oh no! Caleb! Adam! Are you okay? Are you hurt? Let me see you up close!" the goddess fussed as she poked and patted at the two friends. They burst out laughing and she looked up at them with a frown. "I don't see how this is funny! You both look like you need help really badly!" she lectured.

"We're fine! We just got out of Moria and we didn't have the time or resources to freshen up." Caleb told her with a grin.

"I've been told I look like a reject from purgatory." Wren added and gave Martel a big smile. "Heh heh! That should take me off the potential marriage list for sure!"

"_Honestly!_ Boys!" Martel huffed and slammed her staff into the ground before her, "_Rejuvenate!_" Green light shone around the two men, forming bubbles of mana and healing energy that swirled around them, then disappeared, leaving them both as pristine as when they left. "There! Now, what happened down in Moria?" Martel began, "And tell the truth! No making fun of me either because I can find out what I need from the very rock itself!"

"Aw. I was kinda liking the earthy look." Wren sighed. They told the goddess of their adventure in Moria, from the discovery of the dwarven riddle that proved to be so very true to the battle with the dragon that nearly cost their lives.

"And after all that, this is all we came back with." Caleb finished, pulling forth the large gem that they found. "Apparently, this thing is the Moria Gallery. Only how do we get information from a crystal?" Orator moved in to study the item as Martel absorbed the story.

"You three are unbelievable. And that includes Pepper!" Martel declared, "You went into Moria and nearly _died_ just to get a data crystal?"

"Oh? Is that what it is?" Wren remarked as he took another look at their prize. Orator nodded.

"Yes. Doesn't the Wonder Chef Family have one of their own?" he asked in confusion, "They have history with the Moria dwarves, don't they?"

"We do? I was never told that. How strange." the chef muttered.

"Did you get the reader for this?" the mana beast went on, "It allows you to pull the information from the crystal into a form that people can read. It's a type of magitechnology that was thought to be lost."

"If it's magitechnology, how did the dwarves get it? They don't work with it, not until the race was contracted by Cruxis." Caleb questioned.

"Probably from the half-elves. They were the ones who developed the magitechnology that eventually caused the Kharlan War."

"There wasn't anything else in that room, Caleb. How are we going to read the crystal?" Wren pointed out to the doll.

"You can build one. The instructions for it are on the crystal." Orator replied and then winced, "Oh, wait. You need to read the crystal for it." The doll and chef groaned.

"All that and we can't even get to the data in the Gallery. This is too cruel..." Caleb whimpered. Wren was studying the crystal thoughtfully.

"It's all too weird." he murmured, "The reader for the crystal is missing, the fact that the dwarves even have the crystal not to mention it was from half-elves, the idea that the Wonder Chef Family has one that I don't know about..."

"If they have a data crystal, then they must have a reader for it, too." Caleb suddenly remarked, looking at Wren, "What are the odds that we can get to the one in the Wonder Organization?"

"Not good. Technically, I'm banished from headquarters until I have news of my success or failure in finding new recipes." Wren told him and sighed, "And I don't want to go back right away, either."

"So our next best bet for reading this would be from the half-elves. Only, none of them here have this kind of magitechnology." Caleb remarked with a puzzled expression, tapping his foot.

"The Desians do... did." Wren corrected, "And the Renegades too. Both of them were mostly half-elf organizations, so they had to have magitechnology."

"And you know this because...?"

"I taught a few of them recipes, too."

"_Why?_"

"Food knows no boundaries in a living being's stomach! I'm not going to let someone go without a better understanding of cooking just because they're 'bad guys'." Wren told the doll sternly, "I know what they did wrecked the world for four thousand years, but that's no excuse to starve them. I just countered myself by teaching Lloyd and his group the more improved recipes and let them have at with their own takes on the basics."

"That aside, the only places where there could be traces of that kind of technology would be the human ranches in Sylvarant and Exire. But the ranches were destroyed, and Exire could be anywhere now." Caleb sighed.

"The only place left would be Derris-Kharlan, then." Martel interrupted, "It's the only concentration of magitechnology that has not been completely destroyed by Lloyd and the Heroes of Union."

"We can't get there. Not even my Wonder Fork has the capacity of reaching that comet, especially since I, ah, never saw the place myself." Wren countered quickly, "That's how the Wonder Fork works when it comes to teleportation; I can only travel to places I've seen first-hand. Or from an image."

"That's how you crossed dimensions when the worlds were split?" Caleb asked. The chef nodded. "One fork has that much power?"

"It's dwarven-crafted. I've never questioned it."

"I've seen dwarven technology at work; they don't have the power to do that kind of thing. Charms and engraved spells are mostly for protective and channeling purposes."

"Focus!" Orator snapped at them suddenly and both men jumped to attention, blinking in shock at the mana beast. Orator pawed at the crystal for emphasis, "The knowledge of Moria is trapped in here. You two must get it free or it will be lost." He studied them both. "Find a way to read the crystal. That is your primary mission for now. Everything else is nothing compared to that."

"All right. Derris-Kharlan has the technology that might be able to read this thing, if we can find a set that is compatible. The only things that have teleportation ability are the Wonder Fork and the Eternal Sword. The Eternal Sword can go anywhere it pleases, but only at the command of its master, currently Lloyd Irving Aurion." Caleb reported, "The Wonder Fork is limited to teleportation to locales that are recorded in the Wonder Chef's memory. Anything else that can make it to Derris-Kharlan is either destroyed or out of power because they no longer have Exspheres."

"I can use my power to transport you to Derris-Kharlan, but that is the extent of my influence. I won't be able to bring you back." Martel told them with a worried expression, "And if anything happens, I can't help you."

"The Wonder Fork _does_ have its limits. I just never tested them so I don't know what they are." Wren added with the same look on his face, "The distance between Derris-Kharlan and Symphonia varies by day and I have no idea what the distance limit for the fork's teleportation power is. Also, we don't know what its current distance is to Symphonia." His expression flickered to one of irritation. "And even **if** the Wonder Fork **could** move through that space, no matter the distance, I am **not **teleporting to that comet!" Martel looked saddened as Orator, Caleb and Pepper stared at him in surprise.

"Why not?" the doll asked in confusion.

"Because I said so! Find another way up there! If Derris-Kharlan's current distance from Symphonia is close enough, bug Lloyd for a ride! I'm **not** going!" Wren snapped and folded his arms over his chest stubbornly.

"Okay, okay, fine! But, Derris-Kharlan has already moved on by now. Lloyd and his family returned to Symphonia last year. Origin told me so. Since out of habit Lloyd never uses the Eternal Sword's teleport to move between the two planets unless they are close together, this means that we've already missed the opportunity to go there and come back within a few days' time." the doll surmised and shook his head, "And the damn thing won't come near again until six seasons have passed from its last brush with Symphonia. That's something Lloyd forced on the comet."

"Then what do we do?" Wren sighed almost in relief, "There's **got** to be something on Symphonia that can work this thing."

"How sure are you that _all_ of the ranches were destroyed?" Orator inquired, "Do you _really_ have all the information? Perhaps you should look for additional insight, considering what you have and what you are." With that, he gave them a nod and went to speak with Pepper, who showed off her accuracy and power to the other hatchlings by lifting rocks into the air and firing beams of _Mana Light_ to shatter them. The chef and doll looked at each other in confusion.

"What we have and what we are?" Wren echoed.

"Tch, I know the answer to that. We **have** nothing and **are** completely lost." Caleb grumbled, "I never imagined my journey would have this many roadblocks, or this much hazardous opposition!"

"Why not rest here for the night? Perhaps an answer will come to you in the morning?" Martel offered, "This clearing is safe from all hazards and the abundance of mana will surely help heal your minds from that dreadful experience in Moria."

"That sounds good." Wren remarked brightly, "We found the Moria Gallery, but I guess the quest isn't over yet! Now we're on the search for the technology to read it!"

* * *

With morning and a wake up from the half-elf baby-sitter, who by now got over herself enough to tell them her name of Nadine, both Wren and Caleb sat down on the cool grass to decide their next course of action. Pepper was tagging after Orator, clacking and chirping in joy as the older mana beast walked along with an embarrassed slump. 

"What's going on?" Caleb called out to them.

"New piece of wisdom I've discovered. Don't ever compliment a young female far too much out of kindness." Orator sighed and endured another nuzzling. Pepper cooed then looked at Caleb, sending the doll the image of a shadow walking through forest.

"Huh? That's a new one." the doll muttered and looked around, "Anyone know what it means for a shadow to walk in the woods?"

"She's saying there is an unknown person walking through the the Gaoracchia Forest, most probably coming here, as the Ascension's powers of awareness are limited to a certain area around themselves." Orator translated. Pepper walked forward, cocking her head and eyeing the entrance to the meadow. The image appeared again when she clacked and this time the shadow was replaced with Genis.

"What's Genis doing coming to the Yggdrasill Tree? I thought he was in school!" Caleb remarked in surprise. A few minutes later, the half-elf was in view, a travel pack slung over his shoulder and a map in his hands.

"Whew! Lots of stuff changed when Lloyd reunited the worlds!" Genis laughed and looked around, spotting Wren and Caleb at the base of the tree, "Hey! Caleb! And the Wonder Chef! How cool is that?! I didn't know you two would be here! And Pepper! Remember me?" The boy raced up to them, his loping gait almost comical to the hatchlings that looked up from their play to watch him enter their homeland.

"Hey, Genis! Good to see you! What are you doing way out here?" the doll asked him.

"I'm taking a break from school to do field research, and I thought it would be an awesome thing to be able to study mana beasts in their natural habitats." the half-elf told him, "So I came here to see if maybe Pepper would like to be the focus of my study." He looked up at Orator and blinked. "Wow! Look at this big guy! Do mana beasts normally get that humongous?"

"I beg your pardon?" Orator questioned, raising an eyebrow at him.

"Oh, wow, it talks too! Is that a learned thing or does it also come naturally once the mana beast reaches a certain stage in its growth?" Genis exclaimed excitedly.

"Nah, Orator is the only one who can speak human language." Caleb told him, "Genis, this is Orator, the mana beast companion to Martel. Remember that crest you gave me? It belonged to him and it was what helped bring him back to life."

"Really? I'm glad Raine bought it for me then." Genis remarked, "It's really nice to meet you, Mr. Orator, sir. My name's Genis Sage. I'm a half-elf. Does that bother you?"

"Not at all. Race is nothing to me, people are people. And just call me Orator." the mana beast replied and sat down with a grin, "So, you are the Master Sage I've heard so much about. The young Warlock of Mana."

"Cool! I've never had a title like that before!" Genis laughed, "Most people just call me the Ultimate Kid and stuff." He turned to Caleb and Wren, "So what brings you two here? Are you learning new recipes from the Wonder Chef, Caleb?"

"No, not really." the doll replied with a wry smile, "But since you're here, maybe you can help us with a problem." Genis sat with them and listened as the entire story was told. He studied the data crystal that Caleb produced from his pack and asked to examine the Wonder Fork.

"Never thought I'd actually get to touch it, let alone _study_ it. This is kind of historic for me." Genis murmured as he turned the handle in his hands and felt along it for something only he knew to look for. "You guys are lucky I'm here and not Raine. She'd have snatched this thing and run like there's no tomorrow."

"I know. She tried once." Wren murmured, cheek propped on one fist as he watched the half-elf work, "She wanted to hit me for saying she was only a Passable Chef."

"Anyway, you guys don't really have to go all the way to Derris-Kharlan for the technology to read that crystal. The Iselia Ranch of Sylvarant wasn't destroyed, just abandoned." Genis went on, still examining the fork and tapping at the wood methodically. "You can go there and take a look around. See if something there can help you out. If not, go next door to Dirk's house and talk to Lloyd about taking you to Derris-Kharlan if you're sure this thing can't do the job."

"But Lloyd is recovering from an accident or something that had happened up there. Is it wise to intrude on him?" the doll asked in concern.

"Lloyd heals fast, we all know that. It takes a little time, but his physical health restores itself faster than his mental and emotional health, which should be decent enough now to deal with people."

"Okay then. We'll go to Iselia Ranch. Wren, do you have an image of that place?" Caleb asked, turning from the boy genius to the blonde chef.

"The closest point is Lloyd's room. I was there as a statuette of Aska once." he remarked smartly and folded his arms behind his head with a wry grin, "He tried to carve his name on my foot. That's when I pulled out of the disguise."

"This fork isn't normal." Genis finally said and earned glares from both the doll and the chef, "I meant _besides_ the fact that it belongs to the Wonder Chef and is way bigger than any fork should be. Most forks are made of common materials, steel and wood, et cetera. This fork is using something else. The metal that the prongs are made of is similar in properties to aionis and poly-carbonate, but it's not either one." He studied it a little more. "Let's see. Aionis channels and enhances mana, so magic becomes more powerful for those with elven blood and makes it possible for non-elves to use magic, like Zelos and Kratos and even you, Caleb. Poly-carbonate acts as a defense against magic, nullifying its effects upon contact."

"Then what does the fork do?" the doll asked.

"The prongs seem to act as a focus, giving direction to the magic in the fork. Its property seems to be the ability to repel and attract magic and mana as directed by the commands given to it. Look, hold it and focus on repelling magic." Genis told Wren as he handed the Wonder Fork back. Wren nodded and held it forward, a concentrated look on his face. Genis cast a small lightning spell on the fork and both chef and doll blinked in astonishment as the metal refracted the magic, sending the burst elsewhere to hit a nearby chunk of rubble. "Now, focus on attracting magic." Wren nodded a second time as Genis cast another spell. The Wonder Fork pulled the lightning towards it and the metal shimmered as the magic disappeared. Wren yelped and shook his head in surprise. "See? First, it repelled the magic. Poly-carbonate doesn't do that. Then, it absorbed my magic and channeled it elsewhere. Aionis doesn't work that way. Someone made this fork to act like an alternating magnet and barrier to mana and magic, using a metal refined by a very skilled hand." the half-elf summed up.

"See? I told you it was dwarven technology that makes it work!" Wren told Caleb accusingly, "And you said it wasn't!"

"He was right, then." Genis defended, "This isn't _normal_ dwarven technology. Lloyd said that charms and spells are engraved on things that a dwarf crafts for specific things, like the Key Crests' charms to control Exspheres and spells on pendants to ward off spirits." He took back the Wonder Fork and turned it for them to look at it. "This thing has no charm at all! The metal is smooth, the wood is unmarred; if a dwarf crafted this for you, then he was using another kind of technology in concert with his own skills in order to create it!"

"This is making my head hurt." Wren groaned and fell back against the grass, "I don't know _anything_ about it! It's over seven thousand years old! At least that's what my father told me."

"It should have rotted and fallen apart by now. Yet it looks as if it was only recently made." Genis told them matter-of-factly, "If you have a problem with my hypothesis on this fork, then find a way to read that data crystal. Dwarves made this thing, and dwarves made note of how it was made. Those notes must be in the crystal."

"Then we'll go to Iselia and find out all those answers we need to find." Caleb declared and stood up, "The lost knowledge of the Moria Dwarves, the ancient dwarven recipes Wren needs to learn, the truth about the Wonder Fork's creation and abilities; they're all sealed in this crystal!"

"I told you so." Orator muttered, "Everything you want to learn is in that thing, but the path to attain that knowledge won't be easy to travel. Remember what I told you, and remember to use your own strengths to overcome your weaknesses."

"Then we have our path. We'll go to Iselia." Wren sighed and stood with the doll, holding out his hand, "Genis, my fork?" The half-elf handed it back and scrambled to his feet.

"Good luck, you guys! And say 'Hi' to Lloyd for me if you see him!" he exclaimed. Pepper trotted over to join the twosome as Wren held the Wonder Fork ready.

"We will! Thanks! Bye, everyone!" they answered and disappeared in a burst of smoke, on their way to find the data reader for the mysterious Moria Gallery crystal.

The End


End file.
